A Kannadiga's Take On The Ajay Devgn Tweet - Maya Sharma

Most of the little bit of Hindi that I have was taught to me by Shah Rukh Khan. Not personally, though I wouldn't have minded that. But from watching the star and his Bollywood colleagues - and feeling the need to understand what he was saying beyond what he was expressing with those rueful, puppy dog eyes. There were Hindi film songs I liked - not only those of King Khan - and their meaning was explained to me by kindly family and friends who had studied Hindi in school or college. And those songs helped to increase my Hindi vocabulary.

I did study Hindi briefly. As a central government employee in Doordarshan, I took a couple of courses that helped me read, write (slowly) and even apply for Casual Leave - all this would come as a surprise to those who have actually heard my Hindi! I was in the third and final course when I had to travel on official work from Bengaluru to Delhi. On my return, I was issued a memo asking me to explain why I had not attended the Hindi classes held while I was away. I decided not to attend them anymore. If the classes were compulsory - I didn't want them.

That is the thing. Most human beings don't want to have anything forced on them. The ongoing language protests are against what is seen as Hindi imposition - not the rather sweet language itself. It is a simmering issue, particularly in the southern states. Tamil Nadu perhaps led the initial resistance. Decades ago, when Doordarshan put out a national Hindi news bulletin at prime time, DDK Madras (as it was known then) instead had Tamil news.

Karnataka, especially in recent years, has also been raising objections to the presence of Hindi in some places. The state is leading the latest kerfuffle on the issue - after Bollywood action star Ajay Devgn responded to a tweet of the multilingual Kannada star Sudeep in which the latter says Hindi is not the national language. 

In his tweet - written in Devanagari - Devgn said Hindi was the national language and our mother tongue. And questioned why Sudeep had his films dubbed in Hindi. 

Sudeep replied - in English.

The exchange continued and ended between the two megastars on presumably a peaceful note. But the Twitter spar reignited the feeling that many who grew up speaking Hindi didn't quite understand that millions of their fellow Indians did not.

Devgn was criticised for 'arrogance' - and was reminded that some of his biggest hits were remakes of southern films. Karnataka politicians backed Sudeep, with former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy in a series of tweets saying:

Former Chief Minister of the Congress, K Siddaramaiah, did not mince his (English) words either. He tweeted in response to Devgn:

Social media is seeing debates about the need for a national link language, that all languages should be treated equally and that Hindi should not be given a higher status than other Indian languages. In the offline world, pro-Kannada groups held protests against Ajay Devgn.

But much before Ajay Devgn's tweet, Karnataka had seen protests against Hindi. The Metro system in capital Bengaluru adopted a three-language formula for signs and announcements - Kannada, Hindi and English. Members of Kannada groups protested against Hindi signboards in Metro stations with the cry 'Hindi Beda' - We don't want Hindi.

A whole 'NammaMetroHindiBeda' hashtag campaign was launched in 2017, backed by then Chief Minister, Siddaramaiah and his government. The same year saw pressure against the use of Hindi in forms issued by banks.

The years since then have seen protests held against the celebration of Hindi Diwas. The situation is more complicated in the city of Bengaluru with its very mixed population. It is estimated that less than half of the city's population has Kannada as a mother tongue in India's IT capital.

The emotion over language extends to other related areas too - like the demand for reservation for Kannadigas in industries like the supremely successful IT and BT sectors that have made Karnataka their home. The border district of Belagavi in Karnataka often sees friction between speakers of Marathi and Kannada. During tussles over Cauvery river water with neighbourly Tamil Nadu, Tamil channels have been removed from cable networks in Karnataka.

Our country is amazing in its number of languages and dialects. Just look at our bank notes. This is of course a supreme challenge as well with no doubt that a country with basically one language would be easier to run. Many Indians speak more than one language - often the language of their neighbouring state in addition to their mother tongue. And yes,the soft power of Bollywood and TV serials has added to the Hindi learnt in schools by non-native Hindi speakers across the country as a second or third language.

But the feeling of having Hindi being thrust upon them has led to the resistance to the language by many people - even those who may understand and speak it well. 

India has been seeing an increase in emphasis on what makes people different from each other. It would be very sad if language is added to this often deadly situation. 

The old slogan 'Unity in Diversity' needs to be revived in spirit - for languages too. And for that, there needs to be a respect for all the languages in this incredible country. No language is more equal than any other.

Maya Sharma is a senior television journalist and writer based in Bengaluru.

Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author.